For my next young adult novel, I'm incorporating the theme of wild mustang horses. So, I jogged over to the BLM (Bureau of Land Management's) Website to get some info. I have some experience with mustangs, but it's from years ago. When I was a kid, a stable where I rode horses in Tennessee had a boarder who adopted a wild mustang. Now, he was a big, tough "I can handle any horse" type of guy and he got his a** kicked several times by his adopted horse. After at least a year of working with the horse, he finally was able to groom the horse without it spooking and it was an interesting process to see the horse grow and change. To adopt a mustang, by the way, only costs $125. Yes, $125! Obviously, there is a lot of work involved, but way too many of my horsey friends used to drop ten grand on a horse and not think a thing of it. If I'm in the position to have horses again, I'll definitely look at adoption. If you visit the BLM's Website this is a real issue that deserves attention. Wild horses are being shot, abused and run off their natural habitat.
Anyway, the BLM is hosting an adoption event in Ocala on May 12-13 and I called them up, got the info and am going to attend. I'm so excited and it's going to be great research for my book.
Does anyone else attend special events as research?
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4 comments:
Yay! It works again! :)
I usually use websites as my research. But if I did find some place that was tied to one of my books I would definitely go.
That's really sad about those Mustangs, J. I'm glad you're writing about them.
What a great cause, Jess! That's really neat to know that people can take part in something like that rather than the horses getting shot. I'm interested to see how this plays into your next MSS! I've never attended a specific event for research but I wouldn't be averse to it. I attended and Irish Festival one time, and I could see using several things I saw there in a book.
Yay! So glad you're back! I've missed your comments! :)
Family reunions. I'm serious. They are simply a wealth of information when you write about dysfunctional families.
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